Monthly expenses on a 4,000 sq ft house

[Baylor3217]

This is anti-mustachian, but am curious if anyone on here owns a house this big or bigger and could speak to the monthly costs.

Assuming 2.5% property taxes and a 30 year note at prevailing rates, this would run about $3,500 per month, including insurance and PMI.

I'm curious of monthly air conditioning / heating costs as well as pool costs, etc

[Zamboni]

^Utility costs are very dependent upon the climate where you live.

Pool costs depend upon the size of the pool or if it's a country club pool or something.

I used to have a house this big and have to ask you:  why are you contemplating such a large place?  Do you have 11 children or something?

[Jamesqf]

^Utility costs are very dependent upon the climate where you live.

Also on the quality of insulation, windows, and so on.  A house of any size with good insulation & siting factors such as shade trees will have heating & cooling costs that are a fraction of a poorly-constructed one.

Best thing to do if you're contemplating purchase is to get utility usage for the past year or two (should be available to the owner on-line), and compare those with similar houses in the neighborhood.

[Zamboni]

Seriously, though, unless you're planning to open a bed and breakfast, why buy such a big house?

More to clean, decorate, heat and cool, insure, etc.  I've had one of these monsters, and unless cleaning and decorating are your favorite hobbies (hey, those people do exist!) I think you should pass on it.  You can only use one room at a time, after all.  Oh, as an added bonus, all repairmen and service people will charge you higher rates as soon as they see how big your house is . . . I guarantee this.

imho you should NOT buy such a big house if you require a 30 year mortgage to do so.  Buy something you can afford with a 15 year mortgage instead.

[rollie]

I'm not at 4,000, but I am at 3,000, which may or may not be helpful. Our windows aren't the best sealed, so our home is about typical for the poor construction you get in this country. Before becoming mustachians, our electricity bill ranged from $50 spring/ $120 summer (including AC) and gas $150 winter, $50 summer. Now that we don't AC that much (this is Virginia, so we do use some late in the afternoon when temps cross 82 indoors), I'm guessing that summer electric bill may come down to $50-$60. Gas is also coming down as I've adjusted the water heater and less heat in the winter. We do use plastic sheeting to help insulate many of the windows in the winter. We have a lot of windows.

We have an HOA that covers the community pool, and so that runs another $1000 per year. But they also cut the grass.

We clean the house ourselves, but at 4,000 ft. I can imagine that would be quite cumbersome.

[Baylor3217]

not necessarily looking to purchase one this large, but trying to build a case for how the costs increase and by what amount from say 2,400 to 4,500 sq ft.

This is for a project I'm doing.

[Joet]

I think the owners of McMansions are pretty good at disguising their greater costs of ownership. I wouldnt expect much accuracy if you're taking the information from them. Deferred maintenance, etc all.

[Zamboni]

^^Your best bet for this research is to find homes of both sizes in the same neighborhood which were built by the same builder at approximately the same time.  That will give you the best apples to apples comparison without having to correct for things like different construction quality.

Good luck!

[SnackDog]

The a/c and heatings costs are dependent on how many hours per month the units are run and what they cost.   The first variable relates to the home construction, climate and occupant preference while the second relates to equipment installed and electric/gas rates.  I'm guessing a house this size could be nearly free of costs in some place like Hawaii, if a/c was not needed and lights/appliances were used sparingly.  On the other hand, a drafty old place in Hawaii (highest electric rates in the US by a factor of two) inhabited by a spendthrift could easily hit $1500/month in utility costs.

[kkbmustang]

Many years ago we lived in a new construction McMansion in Frisco, Tx - 3100 square feet, 4 bedrooms, 3 bathroom, upstairs family room, 2 fireplaces. Based on memory, electricity would get near $500/mo in the summer, water would be around $100-150 (no pool), and gas would be maybe highest of $100-$120 in the winter. We had an upstairs a/c and a downstairs a/c. That was before we paid attention and ran it 24/7 at 72ish, regardless of time of year.

My parents just downsized from a 5600 sf, 6 bedroom, 4.5 bath house. I think my dad said electric would get upwards of $750 per month. Not sure about water or gas.

We are downsizing from our current 2850sf in the next six months or so. We're targeting 1700sf.